While Mickey Mouse may be a household name, I don't think Donald Duck is too far behind. Everybody's got to have a best friend to hang with, right? Even if there's some good natured competition going on.
But Donald's got his own wins since his debut on June 9th, 1934. (It was declared an informal holiday 50 years later by the Mayor of Los Angeles!) In fact, finding out there's an entire mythos and family tree behind our feathered friend shows why he's earned his own special day, thankyouverymuch.
Did you know that Donald Duck is the
most published non-superhero comic book character? It's true! Donald Duck is very famous in Europe, especially in Nordic countries where a magazine series called
Donald Duck & Co is released weekly. It was the
highest circulated comic from 1950 to 2009, and is regarded a childhood staple.
You can read some of the comics from our collection!
While Mickey may have a clubhouse, one of Disney Channel's most popular shows focused on Donald Duck and his family! Most remember the cartoon series
Ducktales as the pinacle of weekly Toon Disney from the 80s and 90s. The series was all about the Duck family and the quirky quacky adventures they went on.
Ducktales rebooted in 2017, leading a new generation of kids into "the worst of messes, [that] become successes". The reboot focuses heavily on the themes of overcoming obstacles, everyone has different strengths, and that
family is the biggest adventure of all. If you want to watch either series, don't worry - we've got that covered too.
Fun Facts about Donald Duck:
- Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy - it's seen on his draft card to the US armed forces in "Donald Gets Drafted"
- Donald Duck was given an (honorary) honorable discharge by the US government in 1984 for his work in cartoons during World War II
- Those cartoons were banned from occupied Europe! So Donald Duck went on a tour to Latin America in 1942 where he became one of the Three Caballeros, and was regarded as an honorary American Ambassador
- Donald Duck is the legal guardian of his three nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Why? Read the comics for one version of the story, and watch the new Ducktales series for another!
- Donald Duck got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 9th, 2004 (Mickey Mouse got his in 1978. Not that we're keeping track or anything.)
-Donald Duck is canonly one of the
strongest video game characters as well - he casts the spell ZettaFlare in
Kingdom Hearts 3, a popular Disney and Square Enix game, which is one
quadrillion times more powerful than MegaFlare, a spell used by Bahamut, an astral god. (...okay, maybe this fact is less fun and more just straight up nerdy.)
Celebrate today with Donald and his friends by checking out some of our collection, and have a quack-tastic day!
